MACA and Hancock win in boys basketball

Tigers 72, Sisseton 44

Fans got some excitement to take their mind off the cold weather Friday night (12/9). It was a night of hoops excitement at our spacious Morris Area High gym.

Excitement, yes, but suspense, no. That's because the Tigers completely took charge. We were up 37-18 at halftime. We outscored Sisseton SD 35-26 in the second half, so the final score was 72-44. The win propelled the Tigers over .500 in won-lost, to 7-6.

MACA made 29 of 49 field goal attempts and was a sharp 11 of 13 in freethrows. Eric Staebler achieved another double-double with his 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Jacob Zosel came to the fore with his play, putting in 20 points which was the team-best total. Zosel also topped the team in assists (5) and steals (5). Zosel popped a couple 3-pointers. Sean Amundson had the other MACA '3'.

Zosel with his 20 points and Staebler with 14 were followed on the scoring list by Noah Grove and Riley Biesterfeld each with eight. Then came Jordan Arbach (6), Sean Amundson (5), Austin Hills (3) and these four Tigers each with two: Andrew Goulet, Philip Anderson, Nic Solvie and Joey Dufault.

Sisseton got lots of freethrow attempts, 31, and made 16. They were 13 of 40 in field goal shooting. Dominic White scored 18 points for the visitor.

Coach Mark Torgerson's Tigers now have a break in their schedule. They'll resume play on Thursday, Jan. 15, at Yellow Medicine East. The girls will host YME on Friday.

 

Owls 67, W-H-N 51

Hancock boys basketball came on strong Friday night with a 67-51 win over Wheaton-Herman-Norcross. It was victory No. 4 for the proud Owls. They had to escape a deficit on this night. WHN had the advantage at halftime by a score of 36-27. Hancock turned on the jets after halftime, to the tune of outscoring the Warriors 40-15!

Hancock made 28 of 56 field goal tries and was four of eight in freethrow shooting. Noah Kannegiesser was an offensive force for the Owls with his three 3-pointers and 19 points total. Noah set the pace in assists with nine and steals with six.

Bryce Schmidgall set the pace in rebounds with nine. Collin Brown put in 17 points and Logan Kisgen joined the double figures circle with his 12 points. Schmidgall had a point total of seven. Chandler Gramm and Brandon Shaw each added six points to the winning mix.

Brown found the range for a pair of successful 3's. The Willmar newspaper had two players name of "Brown" listed for making two 3's, but there is only one Brown on the scoring list. The Willmar newspaper can be a problem for a number of reasons. Saturday's issue did not include first names of the MACA or Sisseton players, so I had to confirm my knowledge of the MACA names using Maxpreps.

There is no Sisseton player roster on Maxpreps. Is Sisseton too remote a place or what? "Fort Sisseton" sounds like something out of a Western. The old Wadsworth Trail passed by Morris and headed to that fort. That's before "Morris" existed. Mainly coyotes out here, and burrowing owls.

Carson Maudal and Jordan Fischer each scored 13 points for Wheaton-Herman-Norcross. Isaac Wilson scored eleven followed by Jacob Pederson (5), Bailey Anderson (4), Blake Coffman (2), Tyler Wilts (2) and Brayden Lampe (1). Fischer sank a pair of 3-pointers.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com